djinn wars 03 - fallen Read online

  Would she take it upon herself to return my belongings to me? It would be a very good excuse to come back to Santa Fe….

  “I’ll manage,” Jace said, interrupting my reverie.

  “You always do.”

  We went back to the Jeep and climbed in. Dutchie, however, decided she’d much rather run up the hill on her own power, and so she trotted a few paces ahead of us as I slowly drove onto the property.

  From what I could see, nothing seemed to have changed much. The ground was muddy from a storm we’d had a few nights earlier, and the faintest mist of green was showing on the branches of the aspen trees. It wouldn’t be too long now before they really began to leaf out.

  I parked the Cherokee in front of one of the garage bays, then got out. Jace did the same before going around to the back so he could pick up our luggage. It wasn’t much — a couple of duffle bags, the backpack that held Dutchie’s supplies.

  He shouldered the lot of it, then said, “Shall we?”

  Now that we were here, I found myself almost nervous. What if someone had broken in, despite all the precautions I’d taken?

  Then we’ll fix whatever damage they might have done and get on with our lives, I chided myself as I followed Jace to the front door. I did wonder why he’d gone that way, as it would have been closer to let ourselves in through the side entrance off the kitchen.

  But then he said, “I wanted us to come here the way you did the first time. Through the front, so we can take it in all over again.”

  I reached out and took his hand. His fingers were reassuringly warm. Of course, why wouldn’t they be? Miles Odekirk and his devices were miles and miles away. There was nothing here that could hurt Jace.

  He smiled at me, his hand still wrapped around mine as he reached out with the other one. Just the merest touch on the latch was enough to have the door swing inward, although I knew I’d locked it all up tight when I’d left with Evony, going to Los Alamos to rescue our loved ones.

  And she’d never returned.

  I swallowed, blinking back tears. I didn’t want to cry. I wanted to be happy to be here. Not a day passed when I didn’t think about Evony, wonder if there wasn’t something I could have done to keep things from turning out the way they did. And I knew I would continue to do so. I just didn’t want to do that right now.

  Jace’s fingers tightened on mine. It’s all right, beloved. Let us go in.

  Nodding, I followed him inside. Dutchie had already pushed past us and was rolling around on the Navajo rug, maybe trying to get her scent on it, or maybe reveling in being surrounded by items that did smell like her. The house was cold, but it didn’t smell damp or closed-up. In fact, the air was oddly fragrant.

  I realized why when I glanced toward the far corner of the living room. Standing there, yellowed and forlorn, was the Christmas tree Jace had brought me. It hadn’t rotted, but merely dried out. That was where the oddly aromatic scent had come from.

  The next thing I realized was that it had dropped half its needles on the floor, and it was going to be one ungodly mess to clean up.

  Jace unslung the duffle bags and the backpack from his shoulder. “No fear, Jessica — I can take care of that for us.”

  He made a subtle movement with his free hand, and the next thing I knew, it was as if a small whirlwind had rushed into the room, gathering up all the loose pine needles and bits of dropped popcorn, then swirling around the tree itself until all of it blinked out of existence. The corner was clean, untouched, as if my Christmas tree had never existed.

  “Very handy,” I said, going up on my tiptoes so I could kiss his cheek. “I think I’ll keep you around.”

  A grin. “That’s a relief.”

  With the tree gone, I could see that the rest of the front room appeared untouched. And as we made our way back toward the kitchen, it became obvious that no one had come here to disturb the house in my absence. Dust lay thick on everything, and I knew I’d have to throw a bunch of stuff out of the refrigerator and scrub it all down, but at least the power had stayed on the whole time, so whatever was in the freezer should be intact.

  Truth be told, it didn’t smell quite as nice in here. I saw Jace’s nose wrinkle, and then he made another movement with his hand. No, the refrigerator door didn’t fly open so a parade of spoiled food could emerge, but it did seem as if the air miraculously cleared.

  I let go of his hand and went over to the refrigerator, then cautiously opened the door. Inside, all was bare and clean, sparkling in the bright sunshine coming in through the window. “Nice work,” I said. “Now all we have to do is fill it again.”

  “There should still be plenty of food in the cellar.” Jace glanced out the window, the sunlight warming his dark eyes to a rich coffee color. “And it looks like a fine day for hunting.”

  “What, you’re not going to magic something right into the fridge for me?”

  He didn’t smile. “No. I want us to earn what we have, work for it.”

  “That doesn’t sound very djinn-like.”

  “Maybe it isn’t.” Only a step separated us; he closed the gap and pulled me against him, but gently, so I could lay my head against his chest and listen to the heart beating within. “After all, I am half human. I want to cherish this world, just as I cherish you. If I make things too easy for us….”

  He didn’t finish the sentence, but I thought I understood what he meant. We should never take for granted what we had, but give thanks for all of it, for every passing day, for the sun rising in the morning and the moon that would illuminate our nights.

  “If it’s too easy, then we’ll just end up making the same mistakes all over again,” I said softly.

  There it was, that brush of his lips against my hair, that quiet gesture which told me how much he loved me, almost more than the times our bodies came together in shared passion. Warmth flowed through my limbs. His warmth.

  “Beloved, you understand me better than I understand myself.” His arms tightened around me. “But you don’t believe I am being foolish for thinking this way?”

  I began to shake my head, then realized I could only move so far, pillowed against his chest as I was. Going still, I replied, “No. I’ve been thinking a lot about those few months we had together before everything got so crazy. It was hard work, but there was a rhythm to it, a sort of peace, even though the world — or at least the world I knew — had more or less ended. I think that’s why I wanted so badly to come back here. I wanted what we had then. I want the life that Margolis tried to take away from us.”

  He gently loosened his arms and moved away a few inches, just enough so he could take both my hands in his and gaze down into my face. “I want that, too, Jessica. I want to tend the plants in the greenhouse and take Dutchie hunting in the Polaris.”

  “And go see if there are any goats and chickens left anywhere around here,” I put in.

  “Yes, that, and make you coffee in the morning, and lie down beside you every night.”

  “And wake up next to you every morning.” I held his hands, feeling the strength in the bones and flesh. That was only his surface strength, I knew. Far beyond the muscles, or even the power he could wield when necessary, there was Jace. Jasreel, a man of the djinn, and the only man I would ever need or want or love.

  It had taken the end of the world for him to come to me, and now that we were together, truly together, I knew we would never be apart.

  The End

  The Djinn Wars series will continue with Zahrias’ and Julia’s story in Broken, due out in early 2016.

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  The first three books of this series are also available in an omnibus edition at a special low price!

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  About the Author

  Christine Pope has been writing stories ever since she commandeered her family’s Smith-Corona typewriter back in the sixth grade. Her work includes paranormal romance, and fantasy and science fiction/space opera romance. She fell in love with Sedona, Arizona, while researching the Sedona Trilogy and now makes her home there, surrounded by the red rocks. No alien sightings, though...not yet, anyway!

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  Christine Pope on the Web:

  @ChristineJPope

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  If You Enjoyed This Book…

  Also by Christine Pope

  About the Author